Modern weather reporting and forecasting is assisted by local full service weather stations which collect various types of climatic data such as temperature, wind speed, wind direction, rainfall, and snowfall. These weather stations are typically spread out over municipalities, and popular weather reporting services provide the weather for a specific location based on extrapolations from the nearest weather stations. For many people and for most purposes, such extrapolated weather information works well enough. For snowfall, however, site-specific information is particularly useful.
Snowfall, unlike other forms of precipitation, accumulates at the specific site where it lands and eventually becomes an obstruction to daily activities at that site. Private property owners may not be able to move their vehicles out of their driveways. Business owners may have parking lots piled high with snow, preventing employees or customers from getting into the business. Sidewalks may become impassable. For this reason there exist regulations and industries dedicated to handling snow accumulation.
Snow removal contractors enter into contracts with businesses, individuals and governments to plow and relocate snow. These contracts may require the contractors to remove snow as it accumulates without the property owner having to notify the business, or they may require the contractors to move the snow after being notified by the property owner. Whichever form the contract takes, contractors receive surges of work during times of heavy snowfall and they are interested in maximizing their efficiency and clearing snow before it becomes a problem. Currently, contractors lack any weather data more specific than the weather maps available to the public via weather reporting news programs and websites. Therefore, on days and nights when heavy snowfall is predicted, contractors pre-emptively deploy their equipment near sites they are contracted to clear, and the equipment operators drive from site to site visually checking snowfall amounts to see if it needs to be cleared. This is far from optimal, and there is therefore a demand for site-specific acquisition and analysis of snowfall data to allow snow removal contractors and their customers to more accurately assess snowfall conditions at specific property sites.